Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

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Today, I’m happy to welcome author-illustrator Steven Weinberg, who is here to talk about his new board book series, the Big Job Books, as well as the illustrated chapter book he released earlier this year, The Middle Kid (Chronicle, March 2021).

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It was my pleasure to write over at BookPage about Kyo Maclear’s exquisite The Big Bath House (Random House Studio, November 2021), illustrated by Gracey Zhang. Head here to read more about this, one of my favorite picture books this year.

Here today at 7-Imp are some spreads from the book.

Enjoy!

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In the art-filled chat I bring you today with author Colleen Paeff and illustrator Nancy Carpenter, Colleen says of Nancy’s illustrations for The Great Stink: How Joseph Bazalgette Solved London’s Poop Pollution Problem (Margaret K. McElderry Books, August 2021): “The way she combines humor and historical detail with a dash of irreverence just feels so right for this story.” That comment stands out to me, because it’s how I’d describe this book as whole, one whose humor, historical detail, and dashes of irreverence — in both art and text — work together to tell an informative and entertaining story of just what the title tells you, what history calls “the Great Stink.”

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” … Everyone was happy to donate! Except the traveling clock repairman.”
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I had the pleasure of writing about Kevin Cornell’s New in Town (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, September 2021) over at the Horn Book.

You can read that here, and below are some spreads from the book.

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“I am smoke.
I twirl in dark dance from every campfire.”
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Henry Herz’s I Am Smoke (Tilbury, September 2021), illustrated by Mercè López, is a picture book you may have already heard a lot about this year. It has received a handful of good reviews — and even made Travis Jonker’s list of The Most Astonishingly Unconventional Books of 2021.

And why did it make Travis’s list? Here’s what he wrote:

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What has your year looked like in terms of picture book-reading? This is the question we’re asking over at the Horn Book’s Calling Caldecott today. Given the pandemic, which has meant more picture books as PDFs (for reviewers anyway) and delays in shipping, have you had trouble getting your hands on the picture books you want to see? Or have you been able to hold picture books in your hands and appreciate them in all their physical glory (as pictured above)?

Come join the conversation here!

 
Happy Halloween, dear Imps!

I don’t have a picture book for you all today, because I want to take a moment to share a bit of news I just learned. (I’m slow, and you all may already know this!) It wasn’t till I was goofing around on Instagram yesterday that I learned that illustrator Matthew Forsythe designed the upcoming new short film from Aardman (coming to Netflix in November). Robin Robin is what Forsythe describes as a holiday musical (directed by Dan Ojari and Michael Please). If you head to Forsythe’s page at Instagram, you can see some of his design work (in a few of his more recent posts). One of those images is pictured above.

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If you missed it last week, please be sure to take a look at the new documentary about diversity in children’s literature from the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation, “Tell Me Another Story.” It’s 30 minutes, and it’s free.

Here is more information about it at their site.

 
Over at BookPage, I’ve got a review of Naaz Khan’s Room for Everyone (Caitlyn Dlouhy Books, November 2021), illustrated by Mercè López.

That review is here, and below are some spreads.

Enjoy!

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I love to read the thoughts of professor and poetry advocate Sylvia Vardell, and today at the Horn Book’s Calling Caldecott she writes about a picture book I’ve yet to cover here at 7-Imp. So I’m sending you to Sylvia’s post.

Sylvia takes a deep dive here into Joyce Sidman’s delightful Dear Treefrog, illustrated by Diana Sudyka. Enjoy!

(P.S. Here’s where to get caught up on all the other picture book posts over there.)